


Distant Fates

by FieryGaze



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, Gen, Mecha, Science Fiction, Space Battles, Space Opera, Strong Female Characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-05-31 10:33:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15117548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FieryGaze/pseuds/FieryGaze
Summary: Kamui, an android created by the Hoshidan Military Alliance and stolen by the Republic of Nohr for their military use, has lived her life in isolation. The mysterious Project Dragon has been all but discontinued, leaving her to study and train for no discernable purpose. Xander's intent in setting her up as a mech pilot was to help her make something of herself away from the cold, clinical stares of the scientists. But this decision will have far-reaching repercussions throughout the warring H.M.A. and Nohrian factions and across the seedy, high tech, poverty-stricken planet of Anankos.





	1. The Android

**June 25, 221 B.E.**  
H.M.A. Orbital Research Station  
02:00

Mikoto closed the door. It made a light _hiss_ behind her, then locked. She stood still, her hand over her mouth, eyes flicking back and forth.

“What have we done?” she whispered.

Sumeragi looked up from his computer console in the fluorescent-lit lab, unconcerned at first, but he rose when as he saw Mikoto’s face. “What’s the problem?”

“The child… she, um…” Mikoto let out a breath and steadied herself against the wall. “She asked if I was her mother.”

“She did what?” Sumeragi demanded, moving toward the observation chamber. His long hair was tied atop his head in a bun, messy and unkempt, his eyes bagged and lined behind his spectacles. It had been another long night at the lab: calculations, theories, failed experiments. But, this…

“She looked me dead in the eye. Those strange, red eyes of hers… and she asked if I was her mother.”

“She’s only called you Dr. Mikoto this whole time. How could she even understand the concept of motherhood?” Sumeragi asked as he reached the observation window, hitting the button that turned on the one-way window.

The blank wall faded to reveal the child sitting at her table, picking at the food Mikoto had brought her moments before. The child was only one year old, but appeared to be about four or five. She wore bone-white hair, pointed ears, and a tiny approximation of an H.M.A. scientist’s uniform. She was utterly strange, but she suddenly looked so… innocent. So normal. Out of place in the stark white lab that was her home.

“We have been reading to her. She’s learning,” Mikoto said. She pushed aside the rising dread and panic, standing straight and smoothing her lab coat. “Sumeragi, we… we’ve created a person, here.”

“That’s impossible,” Sumeragi insisted. He ran a hand through his hair, mussing it even further. “She’s… well, she’s half machine, for one thing.”

“So am I,” Mikoto countered, tapping on her left leg. She’d lost it in a skirmish with the Republic of Nohr seven years ago and had it replaced with cyberware so excellent she almost forgot, sometimes. Almost.

“That’s different,” Sumeragi said. “That’s a prosthetic, Mikoto. She… _It_ , the experiment, started as a machine. It was supposed to be an AI, a robot, not a _person_. It simply took in some information it didn’t understand and rephrased it. That’s progress, not personhood.”

Mikoto shook her head. “We haven’t called the child an _‘it’_ for a long time, Sumeragi, and you know it. Not since we used our own D.N.A. in the regenerator and she started to look human. I think we’ve gone too far. She really is a child—and we’re her parents.”

“No,” Sumeragi said, harshly, turning away. Mikoto knew by now to be patient with the man. “This can’t be so. She isn’t human, she’s… different. She’s some kind of alien life-form.”

“With our D.N.A,” Mikoto added.

“I… I can’t abide this. What kind of life is this for a real child?” Sumeragi demanded, taking another stride away. Mikoto knew that Sumeragi had his own young children and was realizing what this really meant. Imagining little Ryoma or Hinoka trapped in that stark room, attended to by cold scientists and given no idea of love or family. Heartbreaking.

“Now we know,” Mikoto said. The more panicked Sumeragi grew, the calmer she felt. “We must stay by her side, Sumeragi. Teach her. Protect her.”

“The H.M.A…” Sumeragi said, aghast. He had realized what had occurred to Mikoto the instant the word “mother” had passed the child’s lips. “They won’t understand. She’s their weapon. They’ve invested too much in her development for them to back down from that.”

Mikoto nodded. “They won’t. They’ll have us continue our work, hoping to use her. But… we must do all we can to help her.”

Sumeragi caught her steely gaze and cracked a smile. “I… didn’t know you had such maternal instincts, Mikoto.”

Mikoto hadn’t, either. The child in that room had never been a baby: she was salvaged alien technology, an ancient power that the Hoshidan Military Alliance had no way to interface with. Years of research revealed a biological component to the technology, and they had built on that to try and regenerate it: filling in sequences of D.N.A. with their own, supplementing with cyberware when necessary. At first the child had been a series of spinning gyros, then an odd-looking fetus, and finally a small humanoid girl. A strange, awkward life cycle—but a life cycle nonetheless.

Mikoto had never fancied herself a mother, but this strange child needed her. The H.M.A. would use the child to the death, if it could, and discard her the moment she was unneeded.

“Will you do this with me?” Mikoto asked softly. Her hand was on the door handle.

Sumeragi let out a breath. “Well, yes. Of course. We’ve no other choice, if she continues to learn like this. We must give her the best life that we can. We’ve failed her so far, but we can start now.”

“Agreed,” Mikoto said, and opened the door.

From where she sat at her table, the child swung her feet and looked up at the two scientists. She was holding a grape in her tiny hand, but hadn’t eaten much of her food.

 _Oh, god,_ Mikoto realized— _I have no idea what to do._

Sumeragi stepped forward and kneeled down in front of the child, at eye level with her. “How are you doing today, my dear?” he asked. Strangely, he had done the exact same thing almost every day for the past year, even when the child was just a spinning ball of alien technology. Mikoto heard the words differently, now.

“M’okay,” the child murmured, looking away.

“I want to say sorry to you,” Sumeragi continued, and the child looked back. “I haven’t been acting very kindly, leaving you alone for long periods of time. We should be together more, because we’re going to be family from now on, okay?”

The child didn’t seem to register most of what he said, but her eyes lit up at the word ‘family’. “Are you my Father?”

This was the second time she had spoken a complete sentence, and she did it with careful, surprising clarity. Sumeragi nodded solemnly.

“Yes, I am your father now. You can keep calling me Dr. Sumeragi, or you can call me Papa. Which do you want?”

The child’s face lit up in a beautiful, excited smile, and all of Mikoto’s lingering doubts dissolved. It was the first time the child had smiled, and she was now realizing this wasn’t because she was an android: it was because she had never been given reason to smile. “I like Papa! Dr. Mikoto can be Mama!”

“Yes,” Mikoto said, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye as she too moved closer to the child. “Would you like a name, little one? How about Kamui? I have always loved that name.”

The child’s eyes were wide, a Christmas morning disbelief. “Papa, Mama, Kamui?” she asked, pointing to each person in the room in turn.

“That’s right,” Mikoto said. “That’s your family.” She tentatively offered Kamui a hug, unsure how the child would respond to physical contact after so long of being starved of it, but Kamui willingly threw herself into her mother’s arms, giggling wildly. The three embraced in the empty, dark laboratory, while the research station floated in the cold of space far above the orbit of the planet Anankos.

If anyone could have changed fate to keep her daughter by her side, it would have been Dr. Mikoto Akiko. She could prepare for almost any outcome, staving off her employers with promises of almost, soon, someday. She could prepare escape routes, find isolated locations where she would flee when the military came for Kamui, fudge test results to hide the swift and frightening strength her daughter developed.

For years, Mikoto prepared for the H.M.A.—The Hoshidan Military Alliance—to take Kamui away from her.

What she didn’t expect was for the Republic of Nohr to suddenly attack their remote research station, chasing rumours of a new and powerful weapon that was being studied there.

Sumeragi was killed. Kamui was taken. The project ended.

Mikoto changed her strategy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there, thanks for reading my thing. When I finished Revelation I felt a little betrayed by the quality of writing in that game. I was still in love with many of the characters and wasn't ready to say goodbye, and I had to get it out of my system somehow... so, being a huge sci fi nerd, I combined my love of mecha anime with the characters of Fates and here we are. This is my attempt to give meaningful arcs to characters I really care about (my faves being Hinoka, Xander, Azura) and create my own interpretation of characters I felt were not done justice in the source material (Camilla, Elise, Mikoto). If that interests you, read on. I don't think you have to be that familiar with mecha to enjoy this, either. It's people fighting in robots. And I'm not fridging Mikoto.


	2. Mission One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Present-day Kamui embarks on a routine mission with her new fleet.

**January 10, 242 B.E.**  
R.N.S. “Mercy”  
11:00

“This is so exciting!” Kamui exclaimed, barely able to stop herself from skipping down the hall.

Xander Prince scowled a little harder to prevent a smile from coming through, striding along behind her through the halls of the RNS Mercy. The ship was dingy, grey, and unimpressive, a military transport with absolutely no trappings. “Kamui, you know this is serious.”

The young woman sighed and wheeled around, controlling herself. “Yes, I know. Xander, I’m really happy you spun this for me. I _finally_ get to go out in actual space!”

“I didn’t do this just so you could take a rig out for a joyride,” Xander said. “I simply kept nudging the General to recognize that he had an unused asset just sitting around. Which is to say, I wanted to get you out of that lonely box for once.”

“It’s not all bad,” Kamui sighed. She had been trying to pull ahead, but seeing that Xander was maintaining his own decided pace, reluctantly dropped back to match it. “Training keeps me busy, most days. And I always look forward to when you and the fleet come by for a visit.”

“Well, I don’t want to get your hopes up, but… if you prove as able a pilot out there as you do in simulations, you might be able to stick with us for good.”

“Really?” Kamui demanded. “But… you’re the champion fleet!”

The smile finally crept through the scowl. “Certainly. And as the Champion, I get to decide who is skilled enough to join.”

They passed a few marines in the hall who saluted Xander. Xander saluted back, uncomfortable as ever with the formalities. They had to know as well as he that the position of Champion held little real power in the Republic of Nohr. He was a figurehead: the maroon military jacket he wore meant just that, not black like the ‘real’ officers. Visible, but powerless. If he had any real authority, the formalities would mean something.

Kamui slowed to a more dignified walk as they passed the marines, but instantly resumed her bounce once they were out of sight. Xander felt a tug of doubt: was Kamui really ready for this?

If not now, he resigned himself, it would be never. Kamui was twenty-one years old. Xander and his siblings had joined the military when they were only fifteen. Kamui had led a sheltered existence, yes, but she was better trained than most marines and more skilled than all of them.

He didn’t know where Kamui originally came from or what the H.M.A. scientists had intended for her. She had been experimented on as a weapon, some sort of super-soldier, Xander suspected. She was certainly stronger and smarter than most, able to retain more information in her head and react to physical threats with inhuman reflexes. Her eyes, hair, and sharp teeth were unique. When he’d first met her all those years ago, when his father had been a General in charge of the whole Dragon project, she had just been a weird, sad child living in a white box.

Then, of course, Elise had demanded to meet this new playmate, and Camilla and Leo both started clamouring about it too. Young Xander had been wary of the white-haired girl, old enough to sense the tension that filled the air whenever she was nearby. Adults with clipboards, scientists, officers all talking under their breath, shooting glances at her.

But General Garon, for whatever reason, allowed it. First in stolen conversations between a glass wall, then in short meetings, and soon Kamui was running about the ship with the Prince children, caretakers dashing along behind. Looking back, Xander thought he saw General Garon’s logic. Make the child feel at home in Nohr, make her loyal to us, and the weapon will surely be ours.

But Garon retired, and the drive behind the project faded. The military continued to train and test Kamui, but to no clear end, and it seemed whatever they were waiting for never happened. Had they expected the girl to suddenly transfigure herself into a terrible weapon? Clearly, she was simply a skilled young woman with great potential. Without Xander’s intervention, they may have intended to keep her squirreled away for the rest of her natural life.

At least this way, she’d be able to go out and make something of herself. It was just regrettable that it had to be in a war machine.

The hangar doors opened in front of them and the cold, white overhead lights snapped on. The lines of mechanized armour suits that lined the hangar were thrown into stark relief, dark shadows slicing bright colours. Purple and black prevailed, the national colours of the Republic, but the Champion fleet was given a little more leeway for custom designs.

Kamui made a beeline for the newest addition to the fleet, the only rig currently on the floor. It was… well, completely standard, a model called the Scout Mark II that could be found throughout the Republic’s forces. About twelve feet tall, steel green, a clunky-looking mech equipped with a standard jetpack. The only custom change was a slice of maroon paint diagonally across the rig like a sash, marking it as a member of the Champion fleet.

Xander’s own mech stood to attention on the wall behind. His was a custom Rover called Sigfreid, black body with maroon highlights, artfully articulated armour plates and a head that looked like a knight’s helmet.

Kamui looked from Sigfreid to the unimpressive mech standing in front of her. Xander was about to give her a lecture on how she couldn’t expect a custom-made rig to start out with, but Kamui broke out in a sharp-toothed grin and dashed over to her mech.

“It’s _amazing!”_ she announced, reaching up to the cockpit. The hatch slid open with a _hiss_ , revealing a cramped chair and control station. “Ooh, are those cup holders?”

“In addition to cup holders, that rig has jet propulsion, missile banks, an arm drill, and—Kamui, stop climbing on it.”

“Ha, ha. No.” Kamui effortlessly hauled herself up to the rig’s shoulder and started investigating the machine from every angle. “What’s its name?”

“Well, it doesn’t have one, yet. That’s up to you,” Xander said, having to fight off another smile at just how pleased the woman was. It wouldn’t last long, he reminded himself. Being a member of the Champion fleet, despite appearances, wasn’t very glamorous. And despite all the pomp, they were utterly, entirely replaceable.

Xander would never forget that for a second.

“It’s got to be a good name,” Kamui sighed, swinging her feet from the mech’s shoulders. “Maybe… the Dragon?”

Xander blinked. “Why _that_ name?”

“Well, I know that was the name of my project, and that’s obviously been cancelled,” she said. “I’ve been called ‘Project Dragon’ enough to have started to get attached to the term. I know it’s not very dragonlike right now, but maybe it’ll get there!”

“I suppose I can’t argue,” Xander said. Behind them, the hangar doors flung open again, and a couple of maroon jackets strode inside.

“Kamui, darling, how do you like the mech?” called the first, Xander’s sister Camilla Prince. She always dressed as well as possible within the confines of the Republic military codes; her tailored tank tops and brightly died hair were her own personal rebellion. Her long, curly purple hair was tied in a high tail that cascaded down her back. That certainly wasn’t within military codes, but as in most areas, the Champion fleet was given a little more sway than most. They had an image to maintain, after all.

“Hey, Camilla! It’s great, just look at it,” Kamui enthused, hopping back down to the ground. “I can’t _wait_ to see what it can really do out there.”

“Well, I’m happy you’ll be joining us,” Camilla said, coming to stand next to Xander, “provided you listen to our every word and let us protect you out there.”

Kamui sighed. “You’re my superior officers, so of course I will.” She peered past Camilla to the other person who had entered with her, a young woman with long red hair who was hesitating near the entrance. “Who is this?”

“Oh, Selena, come here and meet our newest pilot,” Camilla called. “Kamui, this is Selena, who up until now was our newest member. Selena, this is Kamui.”

“Nice to meet you,” Kamui tried, offering the other woman a smile.

Selena only shrugged, looking disinterested. “Sure. Camilla, you’re sure we can just bring some random new pilot into the fleet?”

“I’ve gone through all the proper channels,” Xander assured her. “The higher-ups are interested in what Kamui can do. The next few missions will be a kind of test run for all of us.”

“Right—of course, Champion,” Selena said, then turned back to Kamui. “Well, you better not slow us down. We’re the best of the best, you know.”

“I know. I won’t let you down,” Kamui assured her. Selena shrugged again and moved off deeper into the hangar, approaching the sharp-edged red mech that clearly belonged to her.

“Don’t let her get to you—she’s very disagreeable, but she’s also very skilled,” Camilla said. She abruptly held up something she had been carrying under her arm. “Oh, and I brought you this.”

“Oh, my own jacket!” Kamui exclaimed. She took it carefully, looking the maroon jacket over before slipping it on. Like the identical jackets worn by Xander, Camilla, and Selena, it had black highlights and the Republic’s flag embroidered on the breast. “I really feel like a member of the fleet, now.”

“You will be,” Camilla said gently, almost hiding the steel in her eyes, “so long as you obey our every word.”

“I will! You never believe me when I say that,” Kamui sighed.

“Because this is no time for you to get ideas in your head,” Xander reiterated, his tone dropping. “I got you into this fleet, Kamui, but the military hasn’t completely forgotten about you. They need to see you as a model soldier, following orders, completely loyal to the Republic. Otherwise, we don’t know what they might do.”

Kamui’s eyes flashed, but she reined herself in. “I know well what the Republic can do. Don’t worry, I’m not going to stir up any trouble. Just tell me where to go and what to do and I’ll do it.”

“Hey, Kamui!” A fourth pilot in a maroon jacket entered the hangar, waving eagerly. “The jacket looks great on you!”

“Thanks, Silas!” Kamui called, the fierce look on her face breaking as the young man approached. “This mech, too, right? It’s so cool.”

“Very cool. I’m so glad we get to fly together for real. You’ll be amazed at how different it is from the simulations,” Silas replied, jamming his hands into his pockets. “Speaking of which, did you manage to master level 6 of that exercise?”

“Yeah, just yesterday,” Kamui grinned. “It was easier without your help, actually. We didn’t need to focus on defense at all—the solution was to strike first and rely on the planet’s gravitational pull to gain an advantage.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t think of that,” Silas muttered.

Xander cleared his throat. “We’re launching soon. Where’s Laslow?”

“Er—Last I saw he was in the mess hall with one of the female officers,” Silas said.

“That incompetent…” Xander restrained himself from cussing out his star pilot, which was generally seen as bad form. “All right. Everyone suit up. We’ll give that buffoon a chance to catch up, then we launch promptly at 11:30.”

The pilots all nodded seriously, even Kamui, though her eyes were bright with barely-contained excitement. She was the first in her mech, testing its steps and brandishing its weapons before the others had even entered their machines. Xander shook his head and strode up to Sigfreid.

The mech looked down at him sternly, its eye slits at an imperious incline. Xander let out a breath and climbed up to the cockpit. There was a lot riding on this mission. He would need to be prepared for anything.

At 11:30 on the dot, just as Xander was about to give the command to launch, the final member of the champion fleet dashed into the hangar. “I’m sorry I’m late! I was held up.”

Laslow didn’t really sound or appear sorry, but Xander was far too impatient to spend time dwelling on that. He needed this mission to go smoothly, damn it. “Get in your mech _now_ , Olivére. We will talk later. Now, we are moving into the airlock.”

Blessedly, Laslow shut up. He swiftly made his way to his own white-and-gold mech and stepped up into position.

“All ready?” Xander asked.

“Revenant Knight, ready to roar,” Camilla’s voice came through the com link. The fierce Revenant, with its shoulder spikes and glowing purple eyelights, stood at Xander’s six.

“Firebrand is prepped,” from Selena at four o’clock.

“Flamenco Swift, mark,” said Laslow to a note of sheepishness. Xander felt some small amount of satisfaction that Laslow refrained from his usual childish launching phrase.

“Royal Aegis is good to go,” Silas added as his grey, armoured mech settled into position.

Kamui had moved up to take up the rear. “The Dragon is ready to fly.”

“Fleet confirmed,” said Xander, flipping a few switches on his console. “Siegfried, launching on point. Stay in formation, everyone. Hangar doors opening.”

The airlock depressurized in a torrent of moving air that whistled through Siegfried’s armour plates. The doors that led outside gave a loud click, then slid open, revealing the dark void of space scattered with distant stars. Xander was the first out, the jets on Siegfried blazing red trails behind him. The rest of his fleet swiftly joined him.


	3. The Meteor

**January 10, 242 B.E.**  
**Nohrian Orbital Territory**  
**12:00**

Kamui tried to keep herself professional, she really did, but it was exactly like Silas said: flying for real was so different than flying in a simulation.

Maybe it wasn’t all that different visually, with the Dragon’s display HUD monitoring the same variables and displaying the same endless ocean of stars beyond the jet trails of her fleet. But the humming power of the rig as it flew, the slight mechanical delay of the controls, the way each movement tugged and jostled the cockpit—no simulation she’d run had captured it accurately. It was thrilling.

“How’s that rig moving, Kamui?” Xander’s voice buzzed through the comms.

“Great, I think,” Kamui said. Abruptly, she remembered that Xander was now her superior officer and added, “sir.”

“Good. Our ETA to Mythos is twenty minutes. Remember, this is a simple extraction, but don’t let your guard down.”

“Understood,” Kamui said. She forced herself to focus on the matter and hand, realizing that open space, even with a fleet of highly advanced Republic mechs, was always dangerous.

Xander had chosen a simple mission for her to join. Just the previous day, a Republic space station orbiting the moon of Mythos had been struck by a sizeable meteor. The chances were one to a million. Thankfully, the station had been uninhabited for some time, but the Republic wanted the wreckage searched in case any sensitive materials remained intact.

They could run into scavengers or pirates. More than likely, they would not run into anybody. Kamui couldn’t bring herself to care either way. She was flying! Goodness, it was hard to keep a steady, workmanlike flight path when she had the power to spin and loop to her heart’s content.

“Ms. Kamui, I must apologize for not welcoming you to the team earlier,” another voice came through the comm. “I’m Laslow Olivére, very pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Kamui returned, biting her tongue on the _‘I’ve heard so much about you’_ she’d been about to add. It had all been from Xander and very little of it was positive.

“Dial back the chatter, please,” Xander interjected.

“Just trying to get to know our newest pilot a little, sir,” Laslow said breezily. “Helps the team work together, you know?”

“You’re walking on thin ice today,” Xander observed quietly.

“Er—my apologies.”

“He never knows when to shut up, and that’s most of what you need to know about him, Kamui,” Selena chimed in. “Trust me, I’ve been stuck with this guy for longer than you’d believe.”

“H-hey.” Laslow sounded sheepish. “Same to you. and you’ve never once accepted my invitation to go out for tea.”

“Unbelievable,” Selena muttered, barely audible.

“Focus,” Xander snapped.

Was he always this stern of a captain, or was he particularly stressed out? Either way, the team laid off of the comms and flew the rest of the way to Mythos in silence.

With the bright purple orb of the planet of Anankos in the background, its third moon was a dreary brown-grey. The fleet descended in formation for what felt like an impossibly long time before they finally touched down on dusty moonrock.

Sigfried swivelled around to survey the fleet. “All right,” said Xander, “The wreckage should be a short distance from here. Revenant, take rearguard. Dragon, with me on point.”

Camilla and Kamui switched positions as they made their way in weightless hops across the barren moon. The jets on the Dragon’s back kicked in automatically, boosting each ascent and directing each descent.

Soon, the empty landscape was broken by jagged spears of metal on the horizon.

“Mission control, this is the Champion fleet reporting in,” Xander broadcast. “We are approaching the wreckage site now.”

“Acknowledged,” an unfamiliar voice responded. Kamui supposed she would never see mission control face-to-face, as they were based on Anankos and oversaw all missions remotely. “Any hostiles, Captain?”

“Looks quiet,” Xander reported as the fleet hopped closer.

“Keep an eye out. Mission control out,” their nameless handler replied, then disconnected.

“Roger,” Xander said into the silence. Finally, the full extent of the wreckage came into sight.

It looked like a giant child had thrown her toy angrily to the ground, shattering it into a million pieces. Without wind to disturb them, the deep furrows in the dust remained where each chunk had tumbled post-impact. Some of the pieces were taller than their mechs; others were only melted handfuls of scrap at their feet.

“Look for any intact terminals or hard drives and scan the area for functioning access points,” Xander ordered. “Split up in partners.”

The fleet started in at the wreckage, each pair taking a different section, pushing spears of torn metal aside to make a path. Kamui switched the Dragon into scanning mode and her viewport lit up with various messages and analyses.

Kamui paused, the Dragon’s hand still on a piece of metal. She was struck by the strangest feeling of familiarity—like she’d been in this exact place before, doing this exact thing. She shook her head. “Wow. Déjà vu.”

“Yeah?” Silas asked, his mech digging through the wreckage not far off. Royal Aegis was a veritable tank, heavily armoured in patriotic black and purple, with a shield-shaped chassis and only the slightest suggestion of a head. “Been digging through other crashed space stations I don’t know about?”

Kamui chuckled, but the strange sensation lingered. “Don’t think so. I’m going to try and clear a path towards the centre, here.”

“Roger that, let me know if you need a hand,” Silas replied.

Kamui pushed further in. Her HUD highlighted bits and pieces of the destroyed station as she moved through it: where a major powerline had once run, where a security terminal once stood. Nothing remained intact in that area, and Kamui felt herself inexorably drawn further towards the centre. She forgot about sticking with Silas and kept moving ahead.

It still felt strangely… familiar. Was it because her childhood had been spent in a similar space station owned by the Hoshidan Military Alliance?

That was the only explanation that came to mind, but it didn’t feel right. The Hoshidan eye for minimalism and clean white lines created a very different atmosphere than Republic brutalism, and moreover, the space station of her childhood hadn’t been smashed unrecognizably into the surface of a moon. She was certain she’d never seen anything like this before. And yet…

Her HUD pinged and she frowned at the readings popping up on screen.

“Hey, guys… there’s some kind of energy field in here,” she reported.

“Probably the station’s power source,” Xander replied. The comms crackled oddly. “Could be dangerous. Aegis, would you give her a hand?”

“Be right there, Kamui,” Silas said. “Hold up, you’re getting way ahead of me. Is the field too dangerous to move through?”

“I don’t know… this reading doesn’t make much sense to me.”

She was probably just missing something, lacking the practical knowledge that would make sense of what she was seeing. There were temperature and kinetic fluctuations radiating from something up ahead. The readings were random and chaotic, resulting in an almost beautifully complex, jagged waveform pattern in the centre of her screen.

And this, somehow, was the most familiar thing of all.

“Hmm, I’m also getting some strange readings,” Silas said as he approached her position. “They don’t seem dangerous.”

Kamui found herself moving closer to the energy source before he had even spoken, unable to stop herself. That waveform seemed to call out to her, resonating with something in the back of her head. So, so familiar. Why?

Silas didn’t seem to notice her distraction at all. He followed the Dragon a few steps behind, stopping occasionally to scan or rifle through the wreckage.

“Found some intact databanks,” Camilla reported, voice torn and distorted as if through a faulty connection.

“Upload what you can and melt ‘em,” Xander replied.

“Having some comms decay in here,” Silas said, his voice undistorted in Kamui’s speakers. “Dragon, you reading me?”

“Loud and clear,” Kamui murmured. Ahead, as her rig stepped past a wall of wreckage, the source of the readings—and of the destruction—became clear.

There was a meteor, a huge 12-foot chunk of space rock still glowing with heat, embedded in a crater at the centre of the wreckage. It looked like the meteor had struck a direct hit, dragging the station down with it and causing it to explode and shatter upon impact with the moon.

“Wow, would you look at this,” Silas marveled, moving up for a closer look.

Kamui stood frozen. She became aware that her display had been humming incessantly for some time, but when she moved to silence it, she realized that the humming was inside her head. Like her brain had been struck by a tuning fork.

She really needed to go touch that meteor.

“Hey,” Silas protested as she stepped past him. “Kamui, hold up, that thing is emitting the energy field. We don’t know what—hey, stop!”

“Kamui,” Xander’s voice snapped through the comms, but Kamui barely heard him. Her entire mech started to vibrate, the readings spiking off the charts and throwing up hundreds of alerts until she shut them down with a gesture. She reached out and slammed the mech’s hand into the glowing stone.

Static, tearing through her instruments, tearing through her mind. She started to scream, but there was no sound left in her throat, and instead the mech itself let loose with a roaring screech, metal tearing and twisting, wires dancing and electricity arcing. Kamui waited for pain, for death, for whatever power that was coursing through the Dragon to incinerate her in an instant and pump her ashes out to space.

Instead of that, there was something else. New sensation. Strength.

Awakening.


	4. Battle of the Dragon

**January 10, 242 B.E.**  
**Anankos’ Moon: Mythos**  
**13:00**

“Kamui!” Camilla shouted, her voice hoarse. She launched Revenant Knight into the wall of energy that had appeared around Kamui and her mech, but bounced off it. The impact slammed her into the pilot seat and she saw stars, but she righted herself with Revenant’s purple shoulder rockets.

The sphere of bright blue and silver energy surrounding Kamui remained unchanged, crackling and sparking. Camilla set her jaw and moved to try again.

“Camilla. Camilla. Lieutenant Camilla Prince, stand down _this second!”_

Xander was yelling at her. She growled, heart pounding, and found her comm link.

“Xander. Kamui is in danger.”

“I can plainly see that!” Xander exclaimed. Siegfried descended nearby, laser cannon at the ready. Its free arm gesticulated angrily. “Can’t you see that intervening at this point might only put her in _more_ danger? Stand down, that’s an order.”

“Xander,” Camilla growled, but could find no argument. Kamui’s mech could only vaguely be seen from inside the wall of energy and it looked… wrong. Twisted. Kamui could have been crushed.

“White, report,” Xander snapped.

Silas stammered out his story. Camilla busied herself by flying circles around the wall of energy, trying to find a way in, but was unsuccessful.

“Keep scanning it. We can’t break in and risk hurting Kamui if we try,” Xander said. The rest of the Champion Fleet had come to an uncertain stop around him.

 _Idiot. As if I’d do anything to hurt Kamui._ Camilla forced herself to take a few deep breaths, drifting over the energy sphere from far above. _We shouldn’t have taken her out on this mission at all… should have found a way to shuttle her planetside with Elise._

Something blipped on her radar. Camilla blinked, sure at first that it was a glitch, but when she poked the screen the result remained the same.

“We’ve got bogeys,” she announced, her voice flat. “Inbound.”

In an instant, Selena was at her side in Firebrand. “Confirmed. Six mechs, sizeable energy output. Almost looks…” She hesitated. “Hoshidan?”

Xander barked orders and got them into position, but they simply couldn’t move too far from the energy sphere where Kamui was hidden. The sphere had begun fluctuating in size, growing and shrinking, and a bright blue light had begun to pierce it from within.

 _Please be okay,_ Camilla pleaded with the young woman who she had protected and cared for for many years. Then she put the worries and fear aside, drew on the bubbling frustration and rage, and readied Revenant Knight for a confrontation.

“Hello,” a voice came through their comms. An image appeared to accompany it: short red hair and steely red eyes. A surprisingly familiar face. “This is Captain Sumeragi Hinoka of the H.M.A. Champion Fleet. Surrender the meteor to us now and there doesn’t need to be a fight.”

The H.M.A. Champion fleet, here? Mythos was Republic territory.

“You are trespassing on the property of the Republic of Nohr,” Xander replied, his voice hard. “We’ll surrender nothing.”

The enemy fleet finally pulled into view. Hinoka was at their head, her mech all white and red, sharp angles and a nimble frame.

Camilla recognized the rest of the Fleet from previous engagements with them. There was their archer, another Sumeragi, whose mech fired unique laser shots from an enormous mechanical bow. He was a good pilot, but rash. A mech that recklessly swung a sword around was the archer’s constant companion. Then there were the ones she called the _triplets_ for their similar mech designs: They were fast and dark, seeming to vanish at times; coloured in red, green, and purple respectively.

“Even if we wished to give you the meteor, we can’t,” Xander said as the Hoshidan fleet drew closer, Hinoka making no reply. “Scan it and take a look. Something’s happening to it and we can’t get near.”

There was a moment of hesitation. Hinoka’s fleet hung in the darkness of space, jet trails fading.

“What did you _do_ to it?” the archer demanded. “That thing looks ready to explode!”

“Takumi, enough.” Hinoka snapped. “Am I addressing Champion Xander Prince?”

“You are,” Xander confirmed.

“Then, hear this. That meteor and all Dragon technology of its like belongs to the Hoshidan Military Alliance. We have been tracking it for weeks, and regardless of where it impacted, we claim it as ours.” The white-and-red mech held out its long lance across its body, pointing at Siegfried.

 _Dragon technology?_ Camilla glanced back down toward the energy sphere. She didn’t understand what that meant, but it could have something to do with the whole “Project Dragon” designation.

“We’ll defend our territory,” Xander announced. “Come closer and we will engage.”

“Understood.” The face on their comm screen nodded, then vanished. A moment later, all hell broke loose.

They were outnumbered, with Kamui trapped down below, but that didn’t mean they were outclassed. Camilla went straight for the archer, not letting him get in position to lay down covering fire for the others. Sumeragi Takumi, it seemed his name was. Camilla found a wicked grin as she chased him around the battle, Revenant’s axe at the ready.

Takumi spun in a barrel roll, cyan jets forming spirals around him, and let out three quick shots into the fray, even with Camilla right on his tail. Each of them struck true, two hitting Xander and staggering him, and one hitting Laslow’s mech in the side. It allowed Hinoka to get a few good hits in.

Damn. The kid was too fast for her. Maybe psychological tactics would fare better.

She jammed her comm link and hoped her voice came through loud and clear to the archer. “I have to say, you bunch aren’t nearly as threatening without your old Champion at the helm.”

Takumi immediately took the bait, like he had been dying to. His face appeared on her corner screen: long, pale hair, baby face, angry scowl. “You don’t talk about my brother.”

Takumi let off several shots at her, which she managed to twist around, blocking the last with the blade of her axe.

“Oh? Touchy subject?” Camilla asked. She hit the switch that let her own face show up on the comm: she wanted to appear calm, beautiful, and powerful. “What _did_ happen to old Ryoma? Did someone finally do him in?”

“I said, you don’t get to talk about that,” Takumi snapped. Several more arrows fired in her direction, but he was getting sloppy and had turned his attention away from the battle below. “We’re more than a match for you.”

“See it that way if you choose. You _know_ the only member of your fleet on even footing with us was Ryoma… which makes me doubt he was killed so easily,” she continued. She really had no interest in what had happened to the former Champion, nor did she know anything but rumours, but she had guessed correctly that those rumours bothered Takumi. “So that makes me think… desertion? Did he finally give up on all that nonsense about honorable combat and just _leave_ his younger siblings to fight for him?” She smiled gently. “Terrible brother.”

“Shut up!” Takumi yelled. His mech whirled around, aiming a powerful shot at her face. “Hinata!”

Camilla realized her mistake. Another mech appeared seemingly from nowhere, breaking away from the rest of the fighting and shooting toward her blade-first. She had just enough time to pull her axe inward, deflecting the blow from piercing the cockpit.

The sword pierced Revenant’s shoulder at the same moment Takumi’s laser shot slammed into its head. Revenant’s purple eyelights flickered and went out. Instruments beeped and dials swung wildly, accounting for pressure change, damage, energy leakage.

Camilla twisted the controls in a neat maneuver, planting Revenant’s feet against Hinata’s chest and disengaging him, removing the sword. Then she planted an elbow in his back, using his own momentum against him, crushing his armour and putting him in between herself and Takumi.

Takumi’s bow hovered, unable to get a clean shot.

Hinata whirled around, blade at the ready, aimed again for the cockpit. Camilla deflected with her axe once, twice, then dodged the third strike, watching the blade slide by a mere inch from Revenant’s chest. As soon as Hinata’s reach was extended, she brought the axe down on his back, right where she’d dented the armour. The mech spasmed and she kicked it with all her strength at Takumi.

The two machines collided and Revenant straightened.

“Revenant, hold position,” came Selena’s voice. “I’m here to help.”

“Appreciated, Firebrand, but I have it handled,” Camilla responded. Revenant was damaged, but she was more than capable of dealing with these amateurs.

There was an ear-shattering noise through the comms. Camilla immediately disengaged, soaring back to get a clear view of the energy sphere down on the surface of the moon. The light shining from it was blinding, and the sphere had doubled in size. The sound was… like roaring, like screaming, torn with static.

“What the hell is that?” Takumi could be heard demanding underneath the noise.

The sphere vanished. A figure could be seen floating in its place, roughly the size and shape of Kamui’s mech, but… different.

“Kamui? Dragon, come in.” Xander demanded, his voice faint underneath the static.

Then, the noise stopped. The mech down there—Kamui’s mech?—rose further up into space. The Scout Mark II Kamui had been piloting had had a simple jetpack, but this mech bore a pair of mechanical wings in polygonal shards of glowing, blue energy.

“Kamui?” Camilla asked into the silence.

The mech screamed, swung its arm towards her, and let loose with a devastatingly powerful blast of energy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Changed the title to Distant Fates bc it sounds way better lol (Prev. name: Far Away Fates)


	5. Undine

**January 10, 242 B.E.**   
**Greater Anankos System**   
**13:45**

Azura Valla bit her lip, eyes scanning the data that was flowing down the many screens in front of her. “Well, this is bad,” she admitted softly to herself.

Immediately, her comm lit up with a response. Jakob’s face appeared on the screen, his expression grim. “Please elaborate.”

Azura’s mech, Undine, soared through space at maximum speed, twin jets of pale blue mist fading behind her. Undine was absolutely unique, a mech of vaguely female shape slashed with an elegant mix of white, black, and blue. The delicate articulation of Undine’s limbs and its deceiving look of fragility had always enamoured Azura. Even though the mech had been hers for several years now, the design still amazed her, still made her disbelieve her privilege to be its pilot.

Azura sighed, still scanning the information flooding her cockpit. “It looks like the meteor’s been activated, somehow.”

“A-activated?” Jakob turned away from the comm and asked a few questions to people off-screen. There seemed to be a general bustle of activity happening, then Jakob returned his attention to Azura. “How could that be possible?”

“I would tell you if I knew,” Azura said. “It seems some other Dragon technology came into contact with it… but it was the Nohr Republic who made first contact. They don’t have any kind of Dragon technology, do they?”

“I’ll look into it and let you know if I find anything,” Jakob said. “Be careful.”

“Of course,” Azura said. She leaned into the controls, wishing Undine would go even faster.

She was able to scan quite far ahead of her current position, and the readings she was getting were out of control. Dragon technology, at its most powerful and unrestrained, was being unleashed on the small moon of Mythos. The similar technology that had created Undine could sense it clearly; the mech was already beginning to emit blue pulses, anticipating a reunion with its own kind.

But the devastating power of Dragon technology was not to be taken lightly. Whatever was happening there could just as easily destroy Undine and Azura as it could any other pilots.

Finally, Azura neared the moon. She could track a frenzied battle taking place, H.M.A. and Republic both, and in between them a ferocious, berserk machine.

No, not just a machine, her scanners reported. A young woman?

“Azura,” Jakob’s voice suddenly broke in, riddled with static interference from the power of the Dragon technology ahead. “Do you read me? The Republic _does_ have a piece of Dragon technology, I repeat, the Republic has Dragon.”

“What kind?” Azura whispered. Undine continued to pulse gently, the pace increasing as she neared the berserking mech, which also began to pulse in response.

“It’s an android. The one that was developed by Mikoto and Sumeragi,” Jakob reported. “We thought that she might have died, but if something from the Republic activated that meteor, it would have to be her.”

_Mikoto’s daughter,_ Azura thought in amazement. She was now close enough to see the mech itself and had to suppress a gasp.

It was beautiful. Easily as graceful as Undine but with a far more organic appearance, its plates of armour so smooth as to appear natural. Its wings, filled with blue energy, flared above a long, black tail of finely articulated plates. Its hands were long and sharp, fingers like claws. Its body was a deep blue-black, overlaid with intricate dark grey plates, then overlaid again by a lattice of silver plates, which also formed a pair of horns at its head, like a crown. No eyes, no mouth, no further imitation of humanity.

Blue light pulsed between the plates in response to Undine’s call. The mech had been wildly firing laser blasts in all directions, heedless whom it hit, but now slowly swung around to look at Undine. One of its arms had formed into what looked like a huge jaw, clearly a laser cannon of terrible strength.

Azura’s comms lit up with messages as the two fleets who had been fighting around the new mech demanded she identify herself and surrender. She calmly blocked them all and opened a channel straight to the Dragon mech.

“Hello,” she said. “My name is Azura Valla. I can help you. Kamui, isn’t it?”

There was a moment of complete silence, the two of them looking at each other. Then, Kamui launched herself at Azura, catching Undine around the neck.

Azura was slammed back into her pilot’s seat, gasping for breath. Kamui’s laser cannon was an inch from the cockpit and was gathering energy, ready to vaporize her.

She kept speaking calmly, despite her racing heart and the pain in her ribs. Undine pulsed rapidly. “Kamui. I know who you are because Mikoto told me about you. I know you are not yourself… the power you have just absorbed is too much for you to control. I will help you control it. Please.” She brought Undine’s hand to the laser cannon, trying to gently push it aside.

Kamui overpowered her easily, jamming the cannon even closer. The heat was beginning to melt cockpit’s armor and Azura swore she could almost feel it on her left side. “Kamui, please,” she repeated. She felt a strange calm fall over her, her muscles relaxing, death winking at her. “If you wish to kill me, you can at least do it as yourself.”

Somehow, that worked. The laser cannon powered down. Kamui relaxed her mech’s grip around Undine’s throat, leaving her some space to recover. The comm link buzzed to life.

_“I don’t know what’s happening… please…”_ said a voice, distorted. A face appeared to her, white hair and red eyes, and horns, also, and one of her hands a black mass of claws: bits and pieces of her awkwardly inhuman.

“Kamui, it’s okay,” Azura said, softly. The Dragon mech’s hand was still around Undine’s throat, just no longer gripping hard, and the two were drifting slowly away from the other mechs. It would not be long before they realized Kamui was back to herself and reengaged in the fight, each faction trying to retake control of her. “I’m going to ask you something difficult. Will you come with me?”

_“With you… where?”_

“I have people, elsewhere, who can help you learn to control this power. We’ll help you. But if you stay here, both the H.M.A. and the Republic will try and take control of you.”

_“H.M.A… is here?”_ Kamui managed. _“What happened?”_

“We’ll talk about it,” Azura promised. “But please. Come with me, or these people will use you as a terrible weapon. I know we’ve only just met. But I worked with your mother, Mikoto, for many years. She didn’t want you to be a pawn in their wars.”

_“My mother…?”_ Kamui seemed to come back to herself even further, her eyes widening. _“Tell me. I’ll come with you.”_

“Then we’re going to need to get out of here. Fast,” Azura said. “They’ll chase after us, but our Dragon mechs will outpace them. Are you ready?”

_“As ready as I can be…”_ Kamui said, her face warring between emotions. Azura imagined she had come to care for the members of both Fleets, seeing as she had spent her early childhood with one and her teenage years with another.

“Then let us go,” Azura said, gently breaking the Dragon’s grip and taking the lead, spiralling out into space. Kamui spared a backward glance toward the Fleets, then flared her wing-rockets and took off after Undine, the two of them easily pulling ahead of pursuit and vanishing into the endless black of space.


End file.
